Vol 48 Day 1, Istanbul

I’m back in Oman, back to work and back to writing. I’ve decided to post my vacation notes by day. But I have to start by stating that I had the best vacation of my life. Better than Thailand. So, Wow! Smokin’ good time.

Also, before I start my rambling let me explain how I was traveling. Some friends of mine here in Oman are members of a website called www.couchsurfing.com When you join this “project” as it's called, you write a profile about yourself and then state whether you have a couch to surf or not. So what is couch surfing? It’s free accommodation on someone’s couch. Or their guest bed. Or their floor. After someone has visited you and slept on your couch they leave a reference for you. And you leave a reference for them. That way other members can tell who is safe and friendly. There are members all over the world, including a bunch in Courtenay (my home town) and on Orcas Island. You do not have to host to be a member. Some people only travel. Some people are only willing to have coffee or a drink. Some people will only host women. There are 2 similar web sites- www.hospitalityclub.org and www.globalfreeloaders.com I didn’t join either of them though. Just couchsurfing.

My Syrian friends Khaldoun and Yassir are roommates and they are members of couchsurfing. For the past 9 months I have been meeting the people that they have hosted. Super nice people. Always interesting.

So I decided to surf my way through my vacation. You get to hang out with people who are native to the country. Way better than sitting alone in an expensive hotel room every night.

Yes Mom, there is an element of risk. What if your host turns out to be a rapist? Or an axe murderer? All I can say is this- I have never lived my life in fear. I look at the flip side of fear- what if I meet only wonderful, welcoming people? What if I have amazing cultural experiences? Besides, I only stayed with people who had plenty of references. And before any of you send me emails asking me this- no, I did not sleep with any of them. Everyone I stayed with was friendly but not friendly. Couchsurfing is not a dating site. Or a hook-up site. It’s for travelers.

And it worked! I had the best vacation of my life! I met amazing, welcoming people. I was invited inside people’s homes and lives. I can’t wait to buy a sofa so I can start hosting people myself. I wish I had known about this years earlier. Can you imagine all of the people I could have met by offering up my guest cabin on Orcas?
Alrighty then, enough intro, on with my adventure.

I arrived in Istanbul at 9am on Thursday, Sept 21st. I took a bus to Taksim Square where my first host, Ferhan Erturk had arranged to meet me. And there he was. Super friendly. Ferhan is a 45 year old translator. He translates English Sci-Fi and Fantasy novels into Turkish. Cool job. You get paid in advance and you can work from anywhere. He’s done a lot of novels, including some series. The publishers like to use the same translator in a series so it sounds like the same author wrote all the books.


We walked to his apartment (that is not him in the photo above), which is located in one of the coolest neighborhoods in Istanbul. Very centrally located. I instantly loved Istanbul. My first European city. Yes, I’ve seen photos, but it really is different when you are there. Walking through the streets with the cobblestones under your feet and the buildings, hundreds of years old surrounding you. One of the biggest impressions this trip made on me is how young North America is. How cultureless. Don’t be offended. Of course there is culture at home, but not like in other countries. When I proudly say “I Am Canadian” I only have a couple of hundred years of history behind me. These people all have thousands. It’s just different. It feels different. Tradition means something here.

Anyway, back to my journal notes. I kept a journal every day of my trip so I would remember what I did. Otherwise, with my leaky memory, I would have forgotten the first half before I got home. Ferhan fed me breakfast of cheese, olives, long chilis, fresh tomato, toasted French bread and fresh orange juice. We chatted. He has quite a large collection of Sci-Fi and Fantasy books, many of which I have read. His apartment has an amazing view.


Remember this photo? It was taken from his dining room window. It’s looking towards the Bosporus river, which divides the European side of Istanbul from the Asian side.

Then I hit the streets. Where there is something cool everywhere you look. And cats everywhere you look. I saw more cats in Turkey than anywhere, ever.


People hang out on the street in Turkey. In front of their apartments. And there are tiny neighborhood grocery stores that sell the basics, including yummy fresh bread. The bread in Turkey is very, very, very good. So is the cheese. Wow good.

I caught a tram to the Sultanahmet district where I promptly got lost by confusing north with south. I ended up at the Grand Bazaar which is the biggest souk in Turkey. But I didn’t want to be there so soon after arriving in Turkey so I only poked around a bit. Met my first rug seller, named Salim. I must go off on a tangent about rug sellers now.

Turkey is known for its rugs and I had planned on buying one, which is an adventure in itself. Rug sellers in Turkey are always men. Usually charming. And always out to rip off unsuspecting, uneducated tourists. I knew all that going in but still, I was not prepared for just how charming and persuasive they can be. Salim was tall, dark and handsome. Very easy on the eyes. Very charming and flattering. And he showed me a bunch of carpets even though I told him it was my first day and there was no way I was going to buy one. He gave me apple tea, which is everywhere in Turkey. When I tried to take my leave he poured on the hard sell, promising I would not find a better price anywhere or a better rug anywhere and telling me his father would yell at him if he had spent all this time with me and I didn’t buy. But there was no way I was going to buy a rug on my first day so I thanked him and I left. Whew!

As I walked through the Grand Bazaar, back towards the exit, the shop keepers were all trying to coax me into their shops. The standard opening lines are “Hello, where are you from? England? Holland?” and “Excuse me, can I show you something”. I will share info and photos of the Bizarre later, when I returned to really look around.

I was trying to get to the area where the Blue Mosque, the Aya Sofya and the Topkapi Palace are but by the time I figured out that my internal compass was 180 degrees off it was getting late in the afternoon and it took quite a while to walk back to the correct area. Which was right where I had gotten off the tram. I had time to see the Blue Mosque and the Hippodrome.

The Blue Mosque was built between 1606 and 1616 and is named for the tens of thousands Iznik tiles lining the walls inside. There are 260 windows and the central prayer space is huge. My jaw hung open when I walked inside. It is overwhelming. Huge. Beautiful. But not well lit, so my photos aren’t great. They don't convey the "Wow" feeling I had when I was inside.








Next was the Hippodrome. My guide book says the Hippodrome was the center of Byzantium’s lives for 1000 years and of Ottoman life for another 400 but I just didn’t get it. I guess it’s a big courtyard? Difficult to tell because there are so many tourist booths all over the place. I did find these, though they are not that thrilling:



The granite Obelisk of Theodosius, which was carved in Eygpt around 1450 BC. The Spiral Column was once taller and topped by three serpents heads. Not much is known about the Column of Constantine.

I also found this:


Kaiser Wilhelm gave this fountain as a token of friendship in 1901.


I took the tram back to Ferhan’s in time for a super fast shower and then we were off to catch a boat to Buyukada, one of the Princes Islands, about 20km SE of Istanbul. Here was my first benefit of couchsurfing. Ferhan’s sister was in town from Vienna and so his family was getting together for dinner, (his parents live on Buyukada), and I was invited. And you know I don’t refuse invitations….. About an hour on the fast boat and we were there. Very cute island. We gathered at the bookshop where Ferhan’s father sells his impressionist paintings (which are quite good). I teased Ferhan about finding his name in one of the books there and he immediately stuck his arm out and plucked a book from the shelf, opened it to the title page and showed me his name, credited for the translation. So much for teasing.


We walked down a street lined with outdoor cafes that were somewhat enclosed by clear plastic walls.


From the left is Ferhan, his sister, Niham, his Mother, his Father and his brother, Erhan. Dinner was amazing. The food was awesome and we drank Raki, the national beverage. Similar to Ouzo. The waiter just brought a whole bottle to our table and we drank the whole thing. His family is wonderful. His Mom reminded me of my Mom and made me a little homesick. His sister is super nice, as is his brother and his father spent all night asking me questions about being a vegetarian. It was a different question each time but the jist was always the same- “But WHY????”

We took the slow boat back to the Asian side and then a bus back to the European side and walked home. I slept like a baby on Ferhan’s comfy sofa-bed.

Not a bad first day, huh?